No abstract

Une des plus significatives approches positives à la politique du changement climatique sur l’échelle exigée par le problème est celle de Giddens. Cet article étale des faiblesses dans son argument et découvre les motivations divergentes pour l'atténuation des émissions et la sécurité énergétique au Canada ainsi qu'en Nouvelle Zélande, contrairement à ce qui s'est passé en Europe du Nord sur lequel Giddens a basé son analyse. Ceci suggère que la réponse au changement climatique varie selon des structures culturelles et géophysiques plus profondes. Cet article examine aussi l'analyse coûts(risques)‐bénéfices versus le principe de précaution, la directionnalité de la convergence politico‐économique avec l'atténuation, et la partisannerie politique au sujet du changement climatique. Il démontre la complexité de faire converger les opportunités économiques immédiates avec l'atténuation du mal éloigné.

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) is a relatively mature field where institutions have become firmly established. This empirical paper explores findings obtained from interviewing key actors within the VCM in New Zealand, at a time when the organizational field was beginning to emerge (2010/2011). Fourteen semistructured interviews were carried out with managers and decision-makers at thirteen organizations, representing a cross-section of leaders in the field at the time. Participants were investigated regarding their cognitions as well as their operational activities and interactions with the range of actors in the field, and how these evolved over time. Case studies of the wine industry, the taxi industry, and the carbon service industry are presented. Findings identify a number of early successes, including endeavors which focused on promoting market integrity through infrastructure and knowledge sharing amongst participants, which influenced others to shift behavior around climate change mitigation in general. Setbacks are evident as well, with the primary setback characterized as market stagnation: buyers and sellers drifting away from the market. Communication challenges, low certification recognition, risk of greenwash exposure, policy uncertainty, the global financial crisis, and general disenchantment with the carbon market were listed as some of the causes.

Climate change and solutions to solving this wicked problem require a mixed methods research approach that draws on quantitative and qualitative inquiry together. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the applicability (and effectiveness) of a mixed methods approach applied to research into the voluntary carbon market (VCM), a key path available for organisations electing to offset their carbon emissions, in New Zealand. The mixed methods approach included three unique data sets (quantitative documents, quantitative surveys, qualitative in-depth interviews), and was both explanatory (qualitative interviews built upon and contextualized the document analysis and survey results) and convergent (data sets were examined separately, then, as they represent different aspects of the same phenomenon, were combined for analysis). These complementary methods were used to gain a fuller picture of the evolution and institutional dynamics of the VCM field in order to produce a comprehensive case study.